EXHIBITION: Keisha Scarville, Passports

August 29-30, 2020. An exhibition of over 70 Passports (the largest grouping to date) hang in the upper barn. Scarville says, “Passports is an ongoing project where I repeatedly reinterpret my father's earliest passport photo. I am interested in the functionality of the passport photo – not only as a signifier and emblem of territorial subjecthood, but also the guidelines that inform how one must position and present one's body within the frame. Through an interrogative process, I re-imagine the image of my father and make space for a dialogue with the image. I use collage, paint, and other materials to dislodge the unmoving stoicism of the printed image and create an alternate spatial narrative in which latent histories are made visible. In each piece, I respond to the transformative effects of immigration and fragility of citizenship.” Scarville was a STONELEAF artist-in-residence in 2019.

If you are interested in learning more or wish to acquire works, please contact Helen at hello@stoneleafretreat.com and note that all sales directly support the artist and the residency program at STONELEAF.

Keisha Scarville (b. Brooklyn, NY; lives Brooklyn, NY) weaves together themes dealing with transformation, place, and the unknown. She studied at the Rochester Institute of Technology and Parsons/The New School. Her work has shown at the Studio Museum of Harlem, The Institute of Contemporary Art Philadelphia, Rush Arts Gallery, BRIC Arts Media House, Lesley Heller Gallery, Contact Gallery in Toronto, Aljira Center for Contemporary Art, Center for Photography at Woodstock, the Caribbean Cultural Center African Diaspora Institute, Museum of Contemporary Diasporan Arts, Baxter St CCNY, Lightwork, and The Brooklyn Museum of Art. Scarville has taken part in residencies at Vermont Studio Center, Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, Lower Manhattan Cultural Council Workspace Program, BRIC Workspace Residency Program, and Light Work Residency Program. Her work has been featured and reviewed in the New York Times, Vice, Transition, Nueva Luz, Small Axe, The Village Voice, and Hyperallgeric. Collections include the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, DC. Currently, Scarville is an adjunct faculty member at the International Center of Photography and Parsons School of Art & Design in New York.